Sir Michael Rake, one of Britain's most senior business figures, is set to
become the next president of the CBI.

Britain's biggest business organisation yesterday appointed Sir Mike, chairman of BT Group, as president-designate. The CBI will ask its members to endorse his appointment at its annual general meeting in June.

If his appointment is approved, as expected, Sir Mike will succeed Sir Roger Carr, the former chairman of Cadbury.

As well as chairing BT, Sir Mike is also deputy chairman of Barclays, a director of US company McGraw-Hill and chairman of easyJet.

He is standing down from easyJet in the summer but his tenure as chairman of the budget airline has not been without its difficulties. Sir Mike has faced criticism from founder Sir Stelios Haji-Iannou over his management of the business despite the fact that the airline was recently promoted to the FTSE 100.

Sir Roger said: "I am confident that director-general, John Cridland, and Sir Mike will work well together and that the voice of business will continue to be both authoritative and clear."

Sir Mike spent most of his career at KPMG. Despite having initially failed his accountancy exams, he went on to become Britain's best-paid accountant and chairman of KPMG International from 2002 to 2007.

The business leader is said to be a strong pro-European and has warned the prime minister about taking Britain out of the European Union.

As head of the CBI, Sir Mike's responsibilities will include maintaining the unity of an organisation with a membership of 240,000 businesses ranging from small companies to global banks. The job is unpaid.

Sir Mike said: "I am delighted to have been asked to take on the roleat this critical stage of economic development. The CBI provides an objective apolitical view on those matters which are most important from a business perspective."